A man who downloaded thousands of child abuse photos "for a bit of a buzz" will be sentenced at Guildford Crown Court next month.

Staines Magistrates' Court was told on Tuesday (June 4) that Steven Wilmer, of Ashleigh Avenue, Egham, turned himself in after being unable to delete the offending files from a computer.

Wilmer, 28, admitted 10 counts of making an indecent photograph of a child on or before October 17 last year.

Darren Matravers, prosecuting, said the computer Wilmer had used was found to contain 3,895 images of category one - the least serious - 88 category two, 256 category three, 253 category four, and three of the most severe category five images.

Mr Matravers told the magistrates bench that inquiries by police investigating thousands of downloads from a known website led them to Wilmer, who lives at the property with his father.

“They first spoke to the father, who appeared to be the main point of contact during the search,” he said.

“There were no admissions and no clear suspects. Items were seized from the address but two days later the defendant attended Staines police station.

“When interviewed, he said the images were on the computer under the television in the conservatory.

“He told police he had tried to run a cleaning programme on the computer but realised it would not work.”

Mr Matravers said Wilmer admitted to police that he had been viewing child abuse images for the past couple of years, originally category one but over time across all five categories.

“He told police initially he would feel guilt about what he was doing and would delete them. At first it was just a bit of a buzz. He knew it was wrong but he could not stop doing it.”

The court was told Wilmer was not sexually aroused by the photos, which he would view late at night when the rest of the household was asleep, and would later delete them.

He told police he was "glad he had been caught, because he couldn’t stop doing it".

The images were last accessed on October 16 last year, just hours before police executed the warrant at Wilmer’s address.

Wilmer told police he had been seeking help by talking to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a child protection charity, and that he was very remorseful and wanted help.

The court was told the defendant had no previous convictions and was of previously good character.

Wilmer was released on unconditional bail to appear for sentence at Guildford Crown Court on July 5.